


Among the Black Spires

by yourfantasyseason



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Batuu, Black Spire Outpost, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Galaxy's Edge, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Original Character(s), POV Kylo Ren, POV Rey (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Unresolved Sexual Tension, canonverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-12 15:11:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19231642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourfantasyseason/pseuds/yourfantasyseason
Summary: The First Order has tracked the Resistance to the edge of the galaxy. Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu is already home to rogues, smugglers, master hackers, and mad scientists. Now it also has a very angsty Supreme Leader who is going to stop at nothing to find Rey again and finish what they started. Unfortunately for both of them, he might not be the only one looking for her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by the opening of the Galaxy's Edge park and some twitter discussion about Rey and Kylo having a lot of "near misses" on Batuu but never quite finding each other. This is also my first in the Star Wars fandom and I'm currently looking for a beta reader. If you would be interested, please leave a comment.

Black Spire Outpost. The final stop on the road to galactic civilization. There’s nowhere left to go beyond here but wild, endless space.

 

Rey had expected something akin to Niima Outpost. Dangerous, yet sleepy. The atmosphere in Batuu reminded her more of Maz’s castle. A near lawless hub traders, smugglers and rogues looking to hide out while making as much money as they could doing things that were most certainly illegal. Thriving garages, shops, and cafes lined the wide streets.

 

And, seemingly, a cantina for every two citizens.

 

This seems baffling and almost wasteful to Rey at first until she realizes, taking in the lush green surroundings, that unlike the deserts of Jakku, Batuu would have ample water supply to make such a thing possible.

 

She looked out upon the settlement from the passenger’s side of the land speeder while Poe recklessly navigated around pedestrians. The outpost is a dense collection of sand colored structures on the ground and saucer shaped ones built atop the massive black spires that rose high into the sky and gave the outpost its name.

 

She felt something tingling in the air around her, as if trying to push into her mind. _Go away,_ she though _. Go away. You had your chance._

 

The speeder swerves, jerking Rey out of her thoughts. Finn cursed. He’d been picking it up from the other resistance members.

 

“Sorry!” Poe called out, turning his head back to look at the Twi’lek he almost clipped.

 

“Eye’s on the road! Eye’s on the road!” Finn yelled.

 

Poe turned back just in time to avoid hitting a band of Bith troubadours but knocking over several of their instruments. “Whoops.”

 

Rey repressed a sigh. _He’s going to get us noticed. This was supposed to be covert mission._

 

They eventually pulled into an alley besides a cinema advertising a single holo. _Dean Cloudblazer IX: From Corellia With Love._

 

Rey pulled her hood further down her face and scanned the surrounding area for patrolling stormtroopers. None were in sight, but she knew the First Order was likely to have dispatched more than a few plainclothes spies around Batuu, though they would be impossible to discern among the throngs of people making their way in and out of the cantinas. General Leia and the Resistance higher ups had already voiced their fears of the First Order using their influence to put all the outpost under lockdown and commit a full search of every property.

 

Their contact here had assured them though, there was a reason most of the people on Batuu had chosen to come here all the way to the edge of the known galaxy. There was no telling how dangerous some of them were. Rogue scientists on the run with frightening chemical concoctions and experiments, outlaws with caches of weapons, arms dealers showing off their wears to criminal syndicates. The Order had to know they only had a limited amount of time here until the locals considered their presence too much of a nuisance and forced them out.

 

Rey and Finn followed Poe inside the cinema door. She wasn’t sure who it was that they were meeting that night. Batuu, like other outer rim planets was home to many refugees from planets invaded by the First Order. Resentment was high and the Resistance promised them a chance to get their homes back. There are also smugglers and skilled pilots, but these are likely to require higher compensation and weren’t as trustworthy. Of course, there are also ordinary citizens, if the Resistance can convince them of the imminent threat of the First Order and how they can help fight it.

 

Poe lead them passed a single closed room emitting a bright glow. As they crept by, they could hear the loud muffled voices of actors and the booming noises of action scenes.

 

_Join me, young Cloudblazer. Take your rightful place as heir of the Solar Dominion._

“Right through this door at the end,” Poe whispered, “There’s a storage room with a secret exit. That’s where we’ll meet Novileer. We’ll leave through a hidden exit then she’ll guide us through the back alleys and woods until we get to the spire. There’ll be a platform we can take up there.”

 

_I’d rather die! You’re going down, Overlord Perilous!_

 

A raucous cheer suddenly erupted from the audience and Finn, startled, leapt almost a foot in the air. Rey put her hand on the back of his shoulder to steady him and he turned to give her a sheepish look.

 

“You sure we can trust this lady?” Finn asked.

 

Poe nodded. “Absolutely. She’s a former rebel, joined up near the tail end of the war. She’s was only 18 when she fought in the battle of Jakku.”

 

Finn shrugged, somewhat unconvinced. “Maybe she could just tell what way the wind was blowing and wanted to be on the winning side.”

 

“My friend,” Poe shot back, “I had no idea you were so cynical.”

 

“ _I don’t like this place,”_ Finn replied, “I don’t think people come all the way to end of the galaxy because their interested in helping out a cause. The first I wanted to do when I left the First Order was run away to some nowhere planet in the outer rim and get _lost_.”

 

“We don’t have much of a choice,” Rey countered, “it’s too risky to take the fleet out of the outer rim right now.”

 

Finn shook his head. “I just have a really bad feeling about this. We haven’t even been here long, and the First Order has already found us. You’ve seen the streets; they’re crawling with Stormtroopers.”

 

Poe sighed. “Look, we’re just going to have to face facts. There’s nowhere left in the known galaxy that’s completely safe from the First Order anymore. And Corma’s been building up a resistance to the First Order on this planet for months before we even showed up.”

 

They approach a metal door, packing tape covering the view from the outside. Poe knocked several times, knuckles mimicking the Resistance’s secret code.

 

“Password,” came a woman’s voice from the inside.

 

“Sunfire,” Poe replied.

 

They waited for a few seconds. “The doors unlocked.”

 

* * *

 

 

From his location atop his ship, currently situated above Docking Bay 9, Kylo Ren looked out over Black Spire Outpost.

 

Below, the lights of shops and cantinas burned beneath the night sky. He’d always remembered the story of how his father had come to meet Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in such a cantina, on a different backwater planet. He could imagine Rey and her Resistance friends down there right now. Tucked away in a corner booth trying to convince some lowlife with a heart of a gold to join their worthy cause.

 

He’d had Phasma’s replacement, a former officer central to the training program named Captain Levian Lamodis, dispatch a stormtrooper to every cantina in the outpost. They’d run into trouble however, as the locals hadn’t taken kindly to the troopers intruding into their cantinas. The denizens, many of them armed, dangerous, and unintimidated, had taken to forcibly and often violently expelling the troopers from the cantinas or anywhere else they weren’t wanted.

 

He had considered ordering Captain Lamodis to post multiple troopers, but that would likely just make the Resistance even more reluctant to conduct their business in public. He decided to keep the number of Stormtroopers as it was and secretly install surveillance around the outpost. There were officers monitoring the footage around the clock and display screens on every First Order ship showing exactly what the Scavenger, the Traitor and the Pilot looked like.

 

Kylo closed his eye’s and tried to reach out to Rey with the force. As he expected he came up against a wall. Maybe she would be less reluctant to let him back in if he wasn’t currently hunting her and her friends but he’d yet to stop trying.

_“Supreme Leader.”_

 

The resentment at having to address his nemesis with that title was so strong that even someone without the force could sense it.

 

Hux approached the edge of the landing pad and came to stand next to him.

 

“Wretched place is it not,” he sneers, looking down toward the outpost like he’s never seen anything more despicable.

 

Hux’s obviously never seen Tatooine or Jakku, Kylo thought. Compared to his ancestral desert planet or the depleted junkyard of Jakku, Batuu was practically Canto Bight.

 

“Are we making progress discovering the location of the Resistance base camp?”

 

Hux crossed his arms. “Not for lack of trying. How can we be expected to find a base camp when every settlement on this forsaken planet exactly, pitifully, the same! Houses thrown together with sticks and leaves,” He gestures broadly. “The Resistance has paid someone off to help hide them. That’s what I think. We need to start bribing the populace for information. The people here are all criminals and dogs; they’ll do anything for money.”

 

Kylo nodded. “Fine. Start with the dock workers but bring anyone with information to me first before the payment.”

 

Hux side-eyed him. “A shame you’ve risen all the way to Supreme Leader and yet you still have to act as your own interrogator. It seems beneath you. Maybe you can recruit one of these-what do they call themselves-Gatherers? -to assist you. Since they seem to have such an interest in that _force_ of yours.”

 

The lack of Snoke’s protection had barely tempered Hux’s outward hostility towards him and the longer Kylo went without killing him the more his false sense of security increased. Eventually though, he would outlive his usefulness and he’d have the sniveling rat out of his hair for good. And he didn’t need to look into Hux’s mind to know that he was thinking the same thing about him.

 

“Oh well,” Hux said, “whatever gets us off this mudhole planet as soon as possible. We’re wasting our time here, chasing after an insignificant group of rebels. There’s much more important business to attend to on the core worlds.”

 

“What about the girl? The scavenger?” Kylo asked. “Don’t you want to avenge Supreme Leader Snoke?”

 

“Oh, he’ll be avenged,” Hux replies, already walking back towards the First Order’s ship. “I’m certain of that.”

 

Kylo leans against the railing and looks out into the outpost again. Rey was out there somewhere. She couldn’t hide from him forever. He’d find her and they would finish what they started.

 

* * *

 

 

Corma Novileer greeted them from her perch above a stack of boxes in the messy storage room.

 

“You’re late,” she drawled, “Did you stop to take in the latest Cloudblazer? Personally, I found it kind of a letdown after Kyber Crystals Are Forever.”

 

Poe shook his head. “Actually, we didn’t get a chance to. The audience seems to be having the time of their lives though.”

 

“They’re all drunk,” she said dismissively, hopping off the stack and walking up to them. She eyed Rey inquisitively.

 

“I take it this one’s the Jedi?”

 

“That she is,” Poe said, gesturing to Rey, “and this is Finn, our resident former stormtrooper.”

 

“I’m not really a Jedi,” Rey interjected, “Well, not yet-I’m still learning.”

 

It made her slightly uncomfortable when Poe or Leia would introduce her as “The Jedi” or “Our Jedi” or most embarrassingly, when the General had introduced her as “The Resistance’s Great Jedi Hope” to a roomful of Resistance donors. They had tried to explain her that it was good for PR and letting people know that they had a powerful Jedi warrior on their side would guarantee more funding and support for their cause. It made her feel like an imposter, nonetheless.

 

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short. I mean really, half our people we recruited because they wanted an opportunity to fight with the Jedi girl,” Corma said. “The one trained by Luke Skywalker himself!”

 

Rey shifted uncomfortably but tried to project an air of confidence. That was Leia had been trying to teach her. The Resistance had the sympathy of the galaxy, but the only way they were going to get people to actually fight on their side was if they believed the Resistance was strong.

 

“She’s right, Rey,” Poe said. “I mean, look at Corma here-fought in _one_ battle during the war but the way she tells it you’d think she was the greatest fighter pilot the Rebels had ever seen!” he joked.

 

Corma huffed and crossed her arms. “I would’ve fought in more battles, but I was too young. It wasn’t like the old day’s where the Jedi would any let padawan into battle, no matter how old they were.”

 

Rey raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t been aware of _that_ part of Jedi history. She wondered if Corma was just exaggerating.

 

“Anyway,” Corma said, “Did you have any trouble getting here? The First Order has their guy’s stationed almost everywhere and my crew’s been working overtime to dismantle all the surveillance they have set up.”

 

“That was one of Leia’s big concerns that she wanted us to ask you about,” Rey said. “She said it was likely the First Order would try to set up camera surveillance.”

 

“Yes,” Corma nodded, “The First Order’s been installing surveillance devices all over the outpost. However, they’re easy enough to find and disable. The Order wasn’t very clever about where they hid them. Problem is they’re everywhere and my people can only disable so many at a time. We have been able to take measures to try to prevent the order from finding out their surveillance is being removed though.”

 

Poe raised an eyebrow. “What kind of measures?”

 

“We replaced the feed with prerecorded footage. We have an amazing tech guy. He was able to figure out how to switch our cameras onto the first orders feed in a couple of hours.”

 

“And who is this really amazing tech guy?”

 

“His name is Shinn Petty. He graduated from the Coruscant Institute of Technology. Top of his class too.”

 

“Really, what’s he doing on a planet like Batuu?”

 

“Well,” Corma suddenly became very interested in her fingernails. “He _may_ have stolen 10 billion credits from the hyperdrive manufacturer he worked for.”

 

“And yet he’s noble enough to join the Resistance. What’s he getting out of it?”

 

“He wants to expose corporate connections to the First Order. There are some huge companies that have been doing business with them without the public being any of the wiser. Coruscant Hyperdrive, Graphmerplain Medical Devices, Multivast Droids; they’re all in bed with the First Order. They all get billons of credits from them and it gets laundered through their legitimate business.”

 

“Well, I sure hope Mr. Petty is redistributing some of that ill-gotten wealth our way,” Poe said.

 

“Believe me, he is,” Corma said. “Now, if your ready to go, let’s get out of here.”

 

Corma turned around and walked toward the back wall where there was a large framed poster of an extremely muscular man flanked by two scantily clad women. Cleto Barndash is DEAN CLOUDBLAZER in Dean Cloudblazer III: THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN BLASTER.

 

Moving the poster aside revealed a small door about a foot above the ground.

 

“Follow me.”

 

They emerged into a deserted back alley and followed Corma through a maze of side streets until gradually, the buildings became smaller and less densely collected. They traveled through a swampy wood before emerging at the base of one of the black spires. There was an elevated platform that reached all the way from the bottom of the spire to the top. They waited until the platform made its way back down to the ground and they quickly boarded it before it began rising back up again.

 

Rey realized they were completely exposed even though they were on the side of the spire facing away from the populated outpost and towards the thick forest of Jiitta trees that made up much of Batuu. It made her nervous though and she mentally urged the platform to rise faster. Her stomach dropped, however, when she heard Finn’s voice.

 

“Guys, there’s someone down there watching us.”

 

“What?” They all went to look over the edge of the platform and sure enough there was a figure standing on the ground below looking up at them.

 

“Maybe they’re just waiting to take the platform up,” Corma said. She squinted to get a better look at the figure. “They’re not dressed like a Stormtrooper.”

 

Rey shook her head. “No, they followed us.” She had a terrible feeling about this. She wished she had her lightsaber, but it was back on the Falcon, still in two pieces. She reached her hand back to grip her staff. Behind her, Poe and Finn’s hands went to their blasters.

 

Rey looked down at the figure and its eyes met hers. He was from a species she didn’t recognize, with scaly yellow reptilian skin. His large eyes seemed to take up half his face and even from a distance she could see how his gaze hyper focused on her.

 

He wasn’t simply waiting for the platform to come back down. He had followed them.

 

She silently cursed herself for not sensing him. She had been too focused on keeping Ben out of her head since she’d felt him trying to open up their bond earlier.

 

Corma leaned over the railing to get a better look. “A Nendoan,” she said, “I’ve seen this one around the outpost lately. I thought it was strange because they hate bright sunlight and almost never leave their home world.”

 

“What’s he taking out of his pocket?” She heard Finn ask.

 

Rey knew what it was. On rare occasions she’d seen other scavengers using them to scale large star destroyers. The man aimed the object at the platform and Rey barely had time to shout out a warning before a claw attached to a long black wire came rattling towards them.

 

“Get back!” She yelled.

 

The hook clamped down and attached itself to the platform railing. There was another rattling sound as the Nendoan began quickly ascending with the wire. Finn and Poe went to try to pry the hook off but as hard as they pulled it wouldn’t budge.

 

Poe took out his blaster. “Hang on, I’m gonna blaster that thing off.”

 

“Too late,” Corma said.

 

The Nendoan backflipped onto the platform and Poe re-aimed his blaster at him while Rey swung her staff at the Nendoan’s legs. His reflexes were too quick though and he jumped to avoid the staff, then grabbed the blaster out of Poe’s hands before he could blink.

 

Finn and Corma, quick on the draw, were able to get blaster shots off, but the attacker deflected them with a metal gauntlet on his arm. With a wave of his hand he sent their blasters flying.

 

Rey watched the blasters fall to the ground far below, stunned. _This man could use the force_ , she thought. She whipped back around to face him just as the platform reached the top of the spire. “Go on without me,” she said, “I’ll take care of this.”

 

Finn shook his head. “No way, I’m not leaving you alone with him.”

 

“Finn, follow me,” Corma said. “I can take us somewhere safe. We’re unarmed; there’s nothing we can do.”

 

“We’re _not_ leaving you alone,” Finn insisted. “Come on, Rey, we’ll take that guy together.”

 

Poe grabbed a hold of Finn’s arm. “Hey, Buddy, you saw what that guy did. That was the force. If we go with Corma, we can get help. I don’t want that guy flinging you 500 feet to the ground.”

 

“He’s right,” Corma said, “This way, follow me so we can get help.”

 

Their attacker made a sudden lunge toward Rey and she swung her staff, aiming for his legs to knock him off balance, but he was able to sidestep her.

 

“Rey!” Finn began to dash toward her, but Poe held him back.

 

“We’re wasting time. Come on!”

 

Rey locked eye’s with Finn and gave him a pleading look. “Finn, he’s right. Please, you need to go get help. I can hold him off for now, but you need to go; as quickly as possible.”

 

Finn looked at her, then glared at the Nendoan before reluctantly following Poe and Corma as they ran up the narrow path that lead to the spire’s buildings.

 

The Nendoan lunged towards her again and Rey decided it would be safer if she took the fight off the platform and away from the spires edge. She ran towards the path, her attacker following. Once she felt like she was a comfortable distance away she turned back just in time to see the Nendoan produce Poe’s blaster. She instinctively thrust out her hand and used the force to rip the blaster out of her foe’s hand and flying into her own.

 

“Stop right there,” she commanded, aiming the blaster at him. “Who are you? Were you sent by the First Order?”

 

She began to mentally panic. If an agent of the First Order had been following them all this time, maybe the location of their base had been compromised. Had Corma been untrustworthy after all? _Oh no_ , she thought. Had she just sent Finn and Poe into a trap?

 

The Nendoan wasn’t responding to any of her questions.

 

“Did _Kylo Ren_ send you!” _Had he._ Had he tracked her down at last. “If he knows where I am, tell him to come face me himself!”

 

He narrowed his large eyes and spoke in a language she didn’t understand.

 

“Khyohraan…Nikho daha hahdik hababahn qi Khyohraan.”

 

He held his hand out and she heard a rumbling sound behind her. She turned around and saw that he had dislodged a boulder from the spire top, and it was rolling towards her. She ducked and rolled out of the way.

 

 _Kriff_ , she thought. He was powerful. Aside from her and Ben’s family, she didn’t know that there were other powerful force users. The only other trained force users she was aware of had been Luke’s former students.

 

“Motlom qi epho Motlom ma nikho haba.” He opened his mouth wide, very wide, until his eyes were pushed back to his forehead. Then he let out a long hiss and raced towards her.

 

She scrambled to pick up Poe’s blaster and wildly fired several shots. The Nendoan was able to deflect them with his gauntlet. Some of her shots actually hit him, but his clothing seemed to be impervious to blaster bolts. She dodged out of his way, but he grasped her arm and twisted it behind her back. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him holding what looked like a syringe to her neck. Before he could grab hold of her other arm, she quickly placed the blaster to his temple. “Let me go, I’m warning you,” she said.

 

“Motlom qi epho force ma habrahn tupha an.”

 

She summoned the force and sent the Nendoan hurtling backwards with a blast of energy, then used her staff to knock him to the ground. She slammed one of her boots down on his chest and aimed the blaster at him. “I’m taking you back to the Resistance and you’re going to tell us who you’re working for.”

 

The Nendoan’s steely gaze met hers and he opened his mouth widely to release another long hiss.

 

“Rey!”

 

The Nendoan immediately ceased it’s hissing and they both looked up to see Poe, Finn, and about a dozen others she didn’t recognize, aiming their weapons at the Nendoan. While she was momentarily distracted, the Nendoan grabbed her ankle and slammed her down into the ground. He then leapt up, ran towards the edge of the spire, and disappeared down the platform.

 

“After him!” She heard someone yell. Several of them went to edge of the spire to look for the Nendoan, but by the time they got there, he was nowhere to be seen.

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo listened as the officer briefed him on an incident that had happened the night before. Apparently, there had been a scuffle on one of the southeastern spires that was suspected to be Resistance activity. Kylo dismissed the officer and ordered Captain Lamodis to post most stormtroopers to the area. Then he ordered the security team to increase the amount of surveillance, although they hadn’t had any luck catching the Resistance on their surveillance feeds. However they were moving around the outpost, they were being extremely careful about it.

 

He was certain Rey had been involved in whatever had been going on the night before. He had woken up in a cold sweat after feeling a several bursts of force energy, including a signature he immediately recognized as Rey’s. The other signature though…he didn’t recognize it at all. He wondered about the source of it. Batuu was a hub of interest regarding the force. “The Gatherers” probably knew more about it than any culture left in the galaxy, but as far as he knew, they were no more able to wield it than the Church of the Force had been.

 

The other explanation he’d thought of was that the Scavenger was gathering acolytes of her own. Taking her cues from Skywalker and rebuilding the Jedi Order by finding those with the ability to wield the force and teaching them as her students. The thought made his fist curl into a ball by his side. They could have created a new order together. Raised a new generation of force users free from the old ways of the Jedi and the Sith. If she chose the ways of the Jedi, (ways which had already failed twice, once with the fall of the Republic and again when he had burned down his uncle’s temple), it would only weaken both the galaxy and the force itself.

 

Rey was still learning though. Still coming to terms with her newly discovered abilities. Not yet knowledgeable enough to be teaching others. There was still time to stop her before she committed the mistake of resurrecting the Jedi Order. Still time to stop her from passing on things that were better left dead.

 

There was a third option also; that this was an entity that wasn’t known to either of them. His thoughts about Rey turned from anger to worry at the idea she might be in serious danger from something neither of them could control.

 

* * *

 

 

This was the sixth cantina they’d been to since leaving Corma’s hideout. The commotion with the Nendoan had alerted the First Order to the area and within no time the area had been flooded with stormtroopers. They had ended up sleeping there through the morning and afternoon and then had snuck out once it got dark again.

 

They couldn’t go back the way they came since there were stormtroopers stationed at every platform now, so they were forced to use the main roads to get back down to the city. That presented a problem as there were now stormtroopers stopping and searching everyone they could on the street. That meant that Rey, Poe, and Finn had to duck into a cantina every time they came across a group of stormtroopers and then wait until they moved on before continuing back to base camp. Lucky for them, the troopers tended to avoid the cantinas since going into one was likely to get them pelted with bottles and glasses by rowdy bar patrons.

 

So this was where they were hiding out for the moment; A secluded corner booth at The Drunken Bantha.

 

Finn looked suspiciously around the room. “I sure hope Corma was right about her guy tampering with the Orders security footage.”

 

They couldn’t stay in the cantina without ordering something. Some cantinas, like this one, didn’t serve food, so they all took tiny sips of their Corellian whiskeys, trying not to get too drunk. As Rey sipped hers, she heard a phantom voice in the back of her head. _Sold you for drinking money._ She scrunched up her face as the whiskey suddenly tasted sourer than it had a moment ago.

 

Finn had voiced his suspicions of Corma before they had left the hideout. Although she couldn’t say she blamed him, it _had_ been the first time they’d been tracked since arriving on Batuu, she believed the attack by the Nendoan was completely unrelated to Corma.

 

It was hard to explain _why_ she thought that, or more specifically, it was hard to explain to Finn and Poe why she thought that.

 

She _might_ be able to explain it to Leia. In the Resistance, the General alone knew what it was like to wield the force, but having never fully embraced it, she could only offer so much help in guiding her through understanding and mastering it. And Leia had other priorities. She had a war to win, and there seemed to be little time even for the Resistance’s prized Jedi.

 

Rey longed for someone who understood the weight of this cosmic power that was inside her. Who she could talk to. Who would help her. When it came to the force it seemed like there was gulf that couldn’t be bridged between her and her friends. They could go on missions together and fight together, and eat and drink and bond over stupid jokes, but there was that one respect in which she always had to go it alone.

 

She didn’t have to be alone. There was _someone_ who could help her. There was _someone_ who would understand.

 

Why did it have to be him? Rey thought, _why did the only person in the entire galaxy who could possibly understand her have to be him?_

 

She screwed up her face and brought the whiskey to her mouth, downing what remained in the glass in one gulp.

 

“Woah, slow down girl,” Poe laughed. “If you pass out, I’m not dragging your ass all the way back to camp.”

 

“Bad news, guy’s,” Finn said, looking at his comm. “I just got a communique from Rose. She say’s the area around camp is crawling with stormtroopers. It’s not safe for us to come back right now.”

 

“Wonderful,” Poe drawled sarcastically. “Well…you want to pool our credits and get a couple rooms?”

 

A loud crash suddenly sounded as a glass shattered on the wall beside them. A fight had broken out on the other side of the room and the cantina was filled with the sounds of yelling and fists flying. Someone flipped a table.

 

Finn picked up a napkin and wiped the contents of the errant glass off his face. “You think we’ll be getting any sleep in this place?”

 

“They’ll toss out the riffraff by the end of the night, don’t worry about it.” Poe leaned back in his chair and stretched out his arms. “The real problem with cantina lodgings are the Enggabite bugs.”

 

“What are Enggabite bugs?” Finn asked, sounding like he’d rather not know.

 

Poe winked at him. “Oh, you’ll find out.”

 

Finn made a disgusted face and Poe elbowed him playfully. “Ha ha, I’m just messing with you,” he laughed. “Or am I?”

 

* * *

 

 

Zanami Hartuki yawned and went to take another sip of her caf. Spending hours on end staring at surveillance footage of the exact same street corner was not what she had in mind when she signed up for the First Order. The only other thing to even look at in her spartan workstation was the picture of the person she was supposed to be looking for. A woman in white with arm wraps and a strange three-bun hairstyle. What this woman’s interest to the Order was, she hadn’t been important enough to be told.

 

She heard someone walk up behind her and assumed it was her supervisor. “I know, I know, no food or beverages around the equipment. Give me a break, I got a raging hangover from that Batuuian Gin and I slept like shit.”

 

She spun her chair around and nearly spit out her drink. “Ahh-ahh!” She dropped her caf. “Supreme Leader!” she sputtered, “I didn’t realize it was you!”

  
She frantically looked around for something to clean up the caf with but couldn’t find anything.

 

The Supreme Leader ignored her bumbling and the caf spill on the floor and put his gloved hand on the table. He leaned forward and examined the display monitor.

 

“Ensign Hartuki,” he began, “In all your time reviewing security footage have you ever once identified the woman you were assigned to look for.”

 

She shook her head. “No, Supreme Leader. Unfortunately, I have not.”

 

“No one has,” he responded. “We know without a doubt that she’s here in this outpost, we have cameras planted in every crevice and yet not a single one our monitors have made a positive identification. It’s all a little…suspicious. Wouldn’t you say?”

 

“Yes, Supreme Leader, very suspicious.” She gulped. From the stories she had heard about him, she half-expected him to take out his lightsaber and turn her workstation to smithereens.

 

“I have a job for you.”

 

“Yes,” she squeaked, and then cleared her throat. “I mean…yes.”

 

“Tomorrow, I’m going to have a stormtrooper go to this exact spot,” he pointed to the street corner on the monitor, “and you’re going to tell me if, at the exact same time, you see him there.”

 

She nodded. It was an…oddly simple request.

 

“Good,” the Supreme Leader said. Then he left the room without another word.

 

* * *

 

 As it turned out, they only had enough credits on them for one room. There had been a debate about who would take the bed and who would sleep on the floor and eventually they’d reached a compromise. Rey would take the floor-she was used to sleeping in uncomfortable places-but the bed was stripped, and she got the blanket, sheets, and cushions while Finn and Poe slept on the mattress, underneath their jackets.

 

She really didn’t mind. The bed she’d made on the floor was actually slightly more comfortable than the hammock in her old At-At.

 

Finn and Poe had nodded off easily enough, she could hear them both snoring, but with her ear pressed to the ground she could hear the sounds of the still lively cantina below. Another fight had started up, or perhaps the same one from earlier had never stopped. It was keeping her awake.

 

She listened closely to make sure she could hear both Poe and Finns snores before slipping a hand into her underwear. She tries to keep her mind free of images and derive pleasure solely from the sensation of her fingers. She had to keep her mind clear because she knows who she wants to think about when her hand is on her clit and she’s not going to think about _him_. So she does what she always does. She rubs and rubs and _doesn’t_ think about _you’re not alone_ , _doesn’t_ think of fighting as one in a spark filled room, _doesn’t_ think of sad, dark eye’s…

 

She gets into a nice rhythm, rubbing and circling the area around her clit with her middle finger. Her pleasure increasing until it’s _so close_ to where she needs it to be, but then, like always, true release escapes her. She comes back down before ever reaching her peak. But it relaxes her enough to drift off to sleep even with all the noise from below her.

 

* * *

 

High atop the tallest spire in Black Spire Outpost, a figure with yellow scaly skin and big eyes entered a massive makeshift laboratory where a woman in a white lab coat was waiting for him. She greeted the Nendoan warmly even though he had obviously failed in his mission.

 

“I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but we’ll just have to try again,” She said, “It’s very, _very_ important that you bring her to me. My entire experiment depends on it.”

 

She looks around lab at the millions of credits worth of equipment that was amassed there. Most of it courtesy of Graphmerplain Medical Devices, whether they knew it or not. This was where the greatest experiment in the history of the galaxy was going to take place.

 

“ _Tomorrow_ , we’ll try again,” She told the Nendoan. “You _must_ bring me the Scavenger.”


	2. Chapter 2

Rey woke up early the next morning to an eerily familiar voice calling her name.

 

Luke? She thought.

 

She looked around the room. The sun had only just begun to rise, and it was still too dark to see clearly.

 

“Rey.” It was him, that was definitely Luke’s voice.

 

Was she dreaming?

 

“Rey, I don’t have a lot of time.”

 

She rubbed her eye’s and squinted, trying to see better in the dark.

 

“How are you here?” He was here. She could hear him. She could feel his presence. All around her it seemed. It was part of why she couldn’t tell where exactly to look for him.

 

“I know you stole the Jedi texts. If you’ve been doing your homework, you should know how I can be here.”

 

A blue glow appeared in the corner of her eye.

 

“There’s a reason you’re on Batuu, Rey. Years ago, I sought the help of the Gatherers to forge a new lightsaber.”

 

She turned. There, sitting by the window, the first rays of the morning sunlight streaming onto his ghostly face, was Luke Skywalker.

 

Rey felt her heart begin to pound.

 

“Master Skywalker! There’s so much I need to ask you. Wha-“

 

Luke put a hand up to silence her.

 

“Go to Merchant’s Row. Look for Savi.”

 

“Where in Merchant’s Row? How do I find Savi?”

 

She heard the bed creak behind her.

 

“Rey? Who are you talking to?”

 

She turned to see a groggy Finn staring back at her.

 

“It’s Luke! Don’t you see?”

 

But when she looked back again, Luke’s ghost was no longer there.

 

* * *

 

 

 Kylo’s suspicions had turned out to be right.

 

That morning, Captain Lamodis had sent trooper TX-2061 to the corner of Hokkidd and Hista, but it wasn’t TX-2061 who appeared in the security footage. Ensign Hartuki had alerted him to the discrepancy right away.

 

He was looking at the two different feeds right now. One had TX-2061 at his assigned location. The other, the supposedly live security footage of the same spot, showed a street vendor selling pet Cupparelnabas.

 

The Resistance weren’t nearly as clever as they liked to think of themselves as being.

 

But neither were the First Order.

 

He was beginning to think that if he wanted to find the Scavenger in this outpost, he was going to have to do it himself.

 

* * *

 

 

They had spent the morning exchanging communiques back and forth with Rose. She told them that the stormtroopers around camp had cleared out hours earlier, and that she would meet them at The Drunken Bantha to pick them up and take them back to the Resistance.

 

She said that she and Leia had come up with a plan to create a distraction that would draw the First Order away from their location. If the plan worked out, she would be able to get them out of the outpost without alerting their attention.

 

Rey wasn’t going with them though. She had decided to listen to Luke’s force ghost and stay behind to look for Savi. She had made one request to Rose over the commlink; that she go into the Falcon and retrieve the broken lightsaber so she could bring it to her when she came to pick up Finn and Poe.

 

The two of them weren’t convinced it was a good idea for them to split up though.

 

“Rey, you’re the most wanted person in the Resistance right now, at least let me come with you?” Finn said.

 

Rey shook her head. “You heard Rose. They’re going to create a big distraction for the Order, now is a better time for me to go than any. Besides, you and Poe need report back to the General and tell her about what happened with the Nendoan.”

 

He still looked unconvinced.

 

“Look, I don’t even have any idea of how long I’m going to be, and we don’t know what’s been going on with the Resistance since we left. You should go back, brief the general on the last two days, find out what missed since being gone, _eat_ something.” They’d spent their last credits on the room and hadn’t had any food since the night before. “Besides…” _How did she explain?_ “There are just some things I need to do on my own.”

 

Poe sighed. “Alright, Finn, you heard the lady. ‘Jedi Business’. Not our department.”

 

Finn looked at her with concern. “You know, you don’t have to do everything alone. I know that’s what you’re used to, but it’s different now. You have people looking out for you.”

 

Rey almost cringed. She didn’t want Finn to think she was deliberately shutting him out. That _wasn’t_ what she was doing, was she?

 

“Finn, I-“

 

Poe cut her off, roughly putting a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “Hold up. Finn, Buddy, you’ve gotten completely the wrong idea,” Poe said. “This stuff, these ‘mystical Jedi quests,’ what you have to understand about them is; she’s gotta do it on her own. Us ‘nonspiritual’ types, we’d just get in the way.”

 

“Poe, that’s not-“

 

He cut her off again. “No no no. I gotcha.” He put up his finger up to shush her. “See,” he put his arm around Finn’s shoulder, “the force is very delicate. If she doesn’t go into this all solitary and spiritual like, her lightsabers gonna, I don’t know, turn bright pink and shoot rainbows or something. I don’t know, I’m not a Jedi.” He examined the dirt underneath his fingernails. “I. Don’t. Know.”

 

Rey raised an eyebrow. “Are you making fun of me?”

 

She put her hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know, the ways of the Jedi are very ancient and venerable,” she said with fake sincerity, “and I won’t stand for them being subject to mockery by a…by a…”

 

“A mere mortal,” Poe finished for her. “What do you say, Finn,” he said nudging him, “Why don’t you and I go back to base together and leave Sister Skywalker here to commune with the elements.” He looked at Finn and smiled so widely you could every one of his teeth.

 

Finn couldn’t help it and his formerly stoic expression dissolved into laughter.

 

“Finn!” She cried in mock outrage. “Not you too.”

 

“Oh no,” Poe said. “Finn’s mine now. _You_ rejected him.” He looked back at Finn, “ _I’d_ let you follow me anywhere.”

 

“Maybe Poe has a point,” Finn said. “I mean, what do we know about the force or lightsabers.” He shrugged. “It’s your decision, Rey. I just want to you to be safe.”

 

Rey forced a smile. She couldn’t dispute what he had just said, but she also didn’t like that Finn was noticing how her force sensitivity was remaining a division between them.

 

There was a sound of a land speeder coming to a stop outside and Poe leaned over to look out the window of their room.

 

“Rose is here.” He looked back at her. “Okay, Rey, we’ll go off and leave you alone now to go on your magical laser sword quest.”

 

Rey rolled her eyes. “Good, go back to the Resistance so they can point you to something and tell you to blow it up.” She smirked. “It’s all that your good for.”

 

* * *

 

 “Kriffing First Order,” the bartender said, cleaning off another glass. Karking dirtmuckers were everywhere.

 

“Kriff the Resistance too,” said the bar patron sitting in front of him, the only one drinking at this hour of the morning. “Only reason the Order is here is because of them. Kriffing do-gooders.”

 

“You got that right.” He’d been running Spire’s Top since the days of the Empire and he’d never seen anything like this. The First Order had just waltzed in out of nowhere one day and started pushing everyone around like they owned the place. He couldn’t even take two steps outside without some helmeted moof-milker demanding to know if he was harboring Resistance spies.

 

Just a couple of days ago one of them came in and told him they were going to install a camera in his ceiling. He’d chased the karking creep out of his cantina and told him if he ever came back, he had a bowcaster under the bar for him. He wasn’t kidding either. He wanted the karking dirtmuckers off his planet.

 

He heard the door creak open and looked upped, surprised at the prospect of another customer. Dothrank was the only bum who ever came into the cantina this early. He felt a surge of anger and annoyance at the sight of who came through the door. It was more helmeted creeps. There were the usual white-helmeted ones, but this time there was a black-helmeted creep with them too.

 

This better not be about their stupid camera, he thought.

 

Black-helmeted creep walked up to the bar with his minions in tow. He put his hands on the bar top and leaned forward menacingly. Dothrank awkwardly tried to move his barstool over to avoid him.

 

The bartender eyed the bowcaster hidden from the creep’s view. “What can I get you gentlemen?”

 

“A girl.”

 

He shook his head as he cleaned off another glass, trying to appear nonchalant. “Can’t help you with that one. Have you tried Madam Jorji’s Parlor down the street?”

 

His head suddenly jerked back as the man’s black gloved hand was thrust into his face. A sharp pain ripped through his skull. He heard a barstool topple over and Dothrank’s voice- “Woah, kriff man, what are you doing to him?” -then the sound of his customer’s footsteps racing out of the cantina.

 

“You’ve seen her and you’re going to show her to me.”

 

It was the last thing he heard until he woke up, hours later, slumped over the bar. The stromtroopers and their leader long gone.

 

* * *

 

 

Rey had put two pieces of her broken lightsaber Rose had brought her safely into her bag and left The Drunken Bantha around mid-afternoon. It was the time when the outpost became crowded and she could more easily blend in. She’d asked for directions to Merchant’s Row from the barman and she had a general idea of where it was from the map she’d been shown before leaving the Resistance base. However, she’d become somewhat lost as, like most maps, it had made the outpost seem smaller and more easily navigable than it actually was.

 

She eventually came upon an alleyway and followed it down into a crowded market street. She wished Luke had given her more specific directions. A street name or some landmark to look for. Then again, maybe the area had looked completely different 30 years ago.

 

_Trust in the force,_ she thought she heard Luke’s voice say. _It will show you the way_.

 

Rey took a deep breath and tried to focus on where the force was telling her to go.

 

It would show her, she thought. She realized now that this had happened many times before already. She recognized the sensation. In Maz’s castle, when it had led her to finding Anakin Skywalkers lightsaber. On Ahch-To, when it led her to the tree containing the sacred texts and again to the dark side cave. Even on Jakku, she was now aware, it had been leading her to valuable starship parts and out of the paths of dangerous bandits.

 

She was being pulled, almost against her will. She decided to see what would happen if she gave over her will to the force and let it guide her completely. She closed her eye’s and reached out just like Luke had told her to do on Ahch-To. Gradually, it seemed like all the noise of the market was growing quieter. The almost deafening volume of speeder bikes roaring past, vendors hawking goods, hundreds of voices all talking at once, became softer and softer until it was all one low indistinguishable hum. Even the smells-hot food, engine exhaust, garbage-became less pungent.

 

Her internal sense of direction increased dramatically until it seemed as though she were on a guided path. She excitedly began to walk faster and faster, dodging out of the way of other pedestrians before skidding to a halt in front of a building. The sign in front of the building was written in several alien languages and indicated that it contained a few different businesses. Rey scanned the sign for the text written in basic and found what she was looking for: Savi & Son Salvage, with an arrow pointing down the staircase.

 

Rey descended the staircase and came upon a door with the name of the business written on the window. She hesitantly knocked.

 

A man answered the door. Was this Savi? Rey thought.

 

“Hello,” he said, “How can I help you?”

 

“I need to have something repaired.”

 

* * *

 

 

Kylo’s comm had been going off like crazy since he’d left the First Order base that morning. Hux was currently on the other line barking demands.

 

“Supreme Leader Ren, you must get out here at once! The Resistance is-“ There was the sound of an explosion going off and frantic yelling. “Why you! Wretched Resistance scum! Get back here!”

 

There was silence from Hux’s end for a moment and then he came back on the line. “Ren! We are being attacked and our _supreme_ _leader_ is nowhere to be found!”

 

“General Hux, I’m sure your stormtroopers are more than capable of taking care of a few Resistance fighters without me holding their hands. Now don’t comm me again unless it’s something _important.”_

“Supreme Lea-“

Kylo turned off his comm to prevent Hux from contacting him again.

 

He had spent his morning going from cantina to cantina, following the trail that Rey and her little friends had left. The old fairytales used to talk about leaving trails of breadcrumbs. Rey had left pieces of herself in other people’s memories. He’d drawn out those tiny glimpses of the woman he was after and they’d led him here.

 

The sign out front announced the establishment as The Drunken Bantha. He led his stormtroopers through the front entrance. It was now late afternoon. Still not prime business hours for a cantina but there were more people sitting around drinking than any of the places they’d visited earlier.

The bartender eyed him warily as they approached. The cantina patrons watched the interlopers with a mixture of curiosity and contempt. Before they even reach the bar, the barkeep put up his hands up in an appeasing gesture.

 

“Look, I know what’s been happening, that you’ve been going around to all the cantinas and roughing people up. Just so you know, I wasn’t here last night, my boss was.”

 

“Where is your boss?”

 

The bartender visibly paled. “He’s not here, but I’ll give you any information I can. There’s no need for trouble.”

 

“I’m looking for a girl. Possibly in the company of two men.”

 

“A girl with two men. The girl; does she carry a staff and have a hairstyle with three buns?”

 

He had seen her. “Yes.”

 

The barman seemed relieved and began speaking eagerly. “She was here this morning, with the two other guy’s. They stayed overnight.”

 

“When did they leave? Where did they go?” Kylo was fully prepared to let this man suffer the same, unfortunate fate as the other barkeepers if he didn’t get the answers he wanted.

 

“Early this morning. The two guy’s left. The girl only left about an hour ago.”

 

“Did she leave on foot?”

 

“I think so. Before she left, she asked how to get to Merchant’s Row.”

 

Kylo motioned to the two stormtroopers. He’d just found out exactly what he needed to know. The barkeep looked relieved.

 

She was going to Merchant’s Row. And she’d left only an hour ago. He suspected he knew exactly where she was going in Merchant’s Row, too. Luke had told him stories during his training about how he’d built his lightsaber. He’d said he’d gone to Batuu and constructed it with the help of the Gatherers. They were well versed in force lore and the Jedi ways, even though they weren’t force sensitive themselves. But they knew enough to be able to construct lightsabers.

 

Was she going to re-forge his grandfather’s lightsaber? Or would she create her own? Did she even have a crystal? The last thing he’d seen before falling unconscious on the Supremacy was the saber splitting in half. Had the crystal survived intact?

 

Well, he thought. He would just have to find out.

 

* * *

 

 

Poe and Finn arrived safely back at base camp, briefed the General about how their mission had gone, and told her about the attack by the Nendoan. Now they were sitting in the small mess area with Rose, having their belated first meal of the day and watching the HoloNet News.

 

“A Nendoan, huh,” Rose said. “I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never actually seen one before.”

 

“Well, they only come out at night,” Poe said. “Literally.”

 

Finn looked at the holoprojector displaying the HoloNet News. “I’m surprised we can get the signal for this station this far out in space,” he said.

 

“Shinn set it up for us,” Rose said, between bites of Blue-milk cheese and bio-septic wheat crackers. “That guy really is a genius.”

 

“Hey, turn up the volume! They’re doing a story about the new Cloudblazer holo!” one of the others in the mess area called out.

 

Poe took the remote control and raised the volume. On the projector, a holo trailer opened with the logo for Hypernova Studios. It then cut to a barrage of actions scenes showing starship battles and colorful explosions. A shirtless muscular man swung around a sword and kicked and punched several masked attackers. In the last scene he grabbed a beautiful Twi’lek woman and kissed her passionately. At the end, the holo’s title appeared accompanied by a booming voiceover.

 

**“** THIS SUMMER, CLETO BARNDASH IS _DEAN CLOUDBLAZER_ IN _DEAN CLOUDBLAZER X: RETURN OF THE CLOUDBLAZER_. A CLETO BARNDASH PRODUCTION.”

 

The channel then cut to a newscaster.

 

“Hey, guy’s!” The newscaster waved to the camera. “It’s your entertainment reporter, Aleema Loosh, here to tell you all about the upcoming release of the holo event of the year!”

 

The channel replayed a few scenes from the trailer and then cut back to the newscaster.

 

“He’s back! _Yes_ , legendary holo-star Cleto Barndash is returning to the role he originated nearly three decades ago with the release of the tenth-Yes, _tenth!_ -holo in the Dean Cloudblazer series.”

 

“The ultra-popular saga first started back in 7 ABY with the release of ‘The Sith Who Loved Me’ and was followed by two equally successful sequels: 10 ABY’s ‘YellowEye’ and 13 ABY’s ‘The Man with the Golden Blaster’.”

 

“Though beloved by fans, the series hit a bit of a rough patch with the release of three commercially successful but critically panned prequels, including ‘For Your Third Eye Only’, ‘License to Carbon Freeze’, and the _unfortunately_ titled ‘Platypussy’.”

 

“The poor reception of the prequels and the departure of Barndash led to the series being dormant until 31 ABY, when Hypernova Studios released the first holo of the saga in 11 years; ‘Dean Cloudblazer VII: The Galaxy is Not Enough’ _.”_

“However, the series has come under fire from longtime fans for the replacement of the popular Dean Cloudblazer character with a new female lead, Rikki Cosmoscrosser, played by actress Febre Totros.”

 

They showed a hologram of a fan throwing up his hands in frustration. “It’s an insult to the series and the fans like me who grew up with it. How can it be the “Cloudblazer Saga” when the main character isn’t even a Cloudblazer?”

 

The projection returned to the newscaster.

 

“Now, remember to check out the HoloNet News homepage to find out how _you_ can win free tickets to the premier of ‘Return of the Cloudblazer’ and make sure to tune in later this evening when I’ll have an _exclusive_ interview with star, Cleto Barndash. We talk getting back into shape for his new holo, what it was like kissing Fruff Starblue, and he reveals who his favorite ‘Cloudblazer Girl’ was.”

 

The newscaster smiled into the camera. “That’s it for entertainment news. Now, for today’s top story, we go to Orchid Stepp. Orchid.”

 

The hologram switched to a different woman standing in front of a rotating model of the galaxy.

 

“Thanks, Aleema,” She said.

 

“Graphmerplain Medical Devices and Riosa Pharmaceutical have settled a 130 billion credit lawsuit with the government of Republica Mirsmana.”

 

“The lawsuit alleges that nearly 2 million Mirsmanian citizens were infected with the OSB-4 virus when they were administered tainted antitoxin during a campaign three years ago to inoculate against the Belafog virus. Strong evidence indicates a scientist connected to the two conglomerates was responsible.”

 

“For more on the story, here’s reporter Tatsu Mita. Tatsu.”

 

The hologram now showed a man standing in front of a courthouse.

 

“Thanks, Orchid.”

 

“Three years ago, the small agricultural planet of Republica Mirsmana, located just outside the mid-rim, was being ravaged by the effects of Belafog Disease. The disease causes gradual weakening of the muscles, eventually leading to complete, irreversible paralysis.”

 

“An antitoxin was developed and tested by Riosa Pharmaceutical and approved for use by the New Republic Health Administration. Riosa Pharmaceutical, in conjunction with Graphmerplain Medical Devices and the Emergency Galactic Crisis Fund, traveled to Republica Mirsmana to administer the antitoxin.”

 

“Their heroic efforts appeared to have gotten the Belafog epidemic under control. However, only months later, catastrophe struck again. Hundreds of thousands of Mirsmanians had begun exhibiting symptoms of the extremely rare OSB-4 virus.”

 

“Medical experts were baffled. OSB-4 had only ever been previously identified in the Mirsmanasha; an isolated tribe living on the Anaban Islands. The Mirsmanasha have had no contact with the other peoples of their planet in thousands of years.”

 

“A thorough investigation later revealed that a scientist employed by Riosa Pharmaceutical, Dr. Ylanny Motlom, was behind the strange and tragic turn of events.”

 

“Dr. Motlom had traveled to Republica Mirsmana as the lab director in charge of overseeing production of the antitoxin by Riosa scientists and EGCF volunteers. The Riosa antitoxin approved by the NRHA was synthetic and made from recombinant proteins, but the concoction being produced in Dr. Motlom’s lab was made with tissue from an unknown source, a process illegal under New Republic law.”

 

“When batches of the Motlom antitoxin were seized from the doctor’s private research facility on Coruscant they tested positive for the OSB-4 virus. It is suspected that Dr. Motlom used tissue from a member of the Mirsmanasha tribe who was infected with OSB-4 in the production of the antitoxin. The virus was then passed on to all those who were given the contaminated antitoxin.”

 

“Dr. Motlom fled her apartment on Coruscant before she could be apprehended by authorities and her whereabouts are currently unknown. There is also still debate about whether Dr. Motlom deliberately tainted her antitoxin with the OSB-4 virus or if she was unaware of the virus’s presence.”

 

“Riosa Pharmaceutical categorically denies-“

 

* * *

 

 

Rey put the finishing touches on her newly repaired lightsaber and held it out in front of her to admire her handiwork. She turned it on and off again a couple times to make absolutely sure it was working properly. Grinning in satisfaction, she looked around the room to see where Savi had gone off to so she could show him the final product.

 

She’d felt right at home in Savi’s workshop. It was a scavenger’s dream. Scraps and parts from starships and speeders. Electronics in various states of disrepair. So many things that could be traded or recycled for new uses. Being in that room made her feel like she was back in her scavenging days again.

 

She paused for a moment and realized how strange that was. Not just that she was feeling nostalgic for a time she wouldn’t go back and relive for all the credits in the galaxy, but for how much had changed in such a short period of time. For almost her entire life, all she had known was scavenging. It was odd to think that that part of her life was in the past now.

 

“Ah, you’ve finished!” Savi called out. Once she had explained to Savi why she was there he had closed his workshop for the day so they could work undisturbed.

 

“Yes,” Rey answered. “Thank you for all your help. I’m sorry I can’t pay you now, but I can have the Resistance send over the credits as soon as I get back.” She felt stupid that when she’d asked Rose to bring her the lightsaber, she hadn’t thought to ask for credits as well.

 

“No, Rey,” Savi said. “I wouldn’t think of it.” He held out his hand and she gave him the saber to examine. “I haven’t had the opportunity to help a real Jedi in 30 years.”

 

“Isn’t there any other way I can repay you?”

 

Savi looked thoughtful. “Those Jedi texts you mentioned; could I see them?”

 

“Of course,” Rey said automatically. Then she frowned. “If I can. I’d have to go get them and then bring them back here.”

 

“If it’s too dangerous, then don’t think you need to. Like I said, Rey, I can’t imagine charging the only Jedi alive to help fix their lightsaber.”

 

He handed the saber back to her. “Let me show you something.”

 

Rey hopped off the workbench and followed Savi to the backroom. When he opened the door, she gasped.

 

“Those are all…”

 

“Jedi artefacts.”

 

The room was a complete shrine to the force. “All of this was salvaged over the course of decades,” Savi said. We Gatherers devoted ourselves to saving whatever we could from the Empires purge.”

 

“Are those lightsabers?” Rey pointed to a cabinet full of what looked to be saber hilts. “Do they work?”

 

“Some of them do. The ones that don’t, I spent years tinkering with. Taking them apart to see how they were constructed. That was how I knew how to fix yours.”

 

Rey examined the sabers, noting the differences in the designs of the hilts. She felt inspired. Maybe one day, she thought, she could design and build her own lightsaber. One that was uniquely hers.

 

“There’s something else you need to see,” Savi said, opening a box.

 

Looking inside the box, she saw several glowing polyhedrons. “Datacrons?”

 

“Jedi holocrons. Mostly used to store lessons, but sometimes they have other information.” He looked at her. “You should take them.”

 

“You’d really let me have them?” Rey didn’t believe she could possibly be this lucky. “You spent so much time collecting them.”

 

“ _Saving_ them. Until they could be returned to their rightful owners.”

 

He gestured to the holocrons. “Some of these were given to me by Luke Skywalker for safe keeping. Before he disappeared. As his apprentice, I’m sure he’d want you to have them.”

 

She suddenly felt a bit like an imposter again at the word ‘apprentice’. Luke had been her (reluctant) master for all of a few days. She thought about Luke saving the holocrons by giving them to Savi. Hadn’t he been calling for the Jedi to end? Why preserve their teachings then?

 

Rey decided she didn’t care. She couldn’t resist taking the holocrons. The promise of lessons from real Jedi; It was exactly what she wanted when she had gone to Ahch-To to find Luke. She wouldn’t have to try to figure out everything about the force from those damned books she could barely read.

 

“Thank you,” she said. “Really, this is incredible.” She then realized a problem. “It might look suspicious if someone sees me lugging a giant box through the outpost.”

 

“If you want, I could give you a ride back. It would give me a chance to take a look at those Jedi texts,” Savi offered. “Plus, I know all the backroads around here. We shouldn’t have too many opportunities to run into the Order.”

 

“That sounds like a great idea,” Rey said. Her stomach suddenly gurgled loudly, reminding her of how long it had been since she’d last eaten.

 

Savi laughed. “Hang on, I’ll go to the café upstairs and get us something to eat before we take off.”

 

She thanked Savi again and he disappeared out the door. While he was gone, she went back into the workroom and began cleaning up the area where she’d been working on the saber. A few moments later she heard footsteps at the top of the stairs. That was quick, she thought. She then heard Savi’s frantic voice calling down to her.

 

“Rey! Rey, it’s the First Order! They’re know you’re here!”

 

Her stomach dropped.

 

There was a loud crashing noise and the sounds of muffled voices. “Down here.” The voice that spoke sounded distinctly robotic and though it had been long time since she’d heard it, she immediately knew who it had to belong to.

 

She grabbed her saber. She had to make decision, fast.

 

Should she confront him? Or did she hide and try to get away?

 

She decided she didn’t want to get into a lightsaber duel in Savi’s small, confined workshop, so she rushed through the open door and hid underneath the staircase. She heard heavy footsteps descending the stairs and concentrated on hiding her force signature. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a swaying piece of black fabric. She gripped the saber until her knuckles were white. She hadn’t been this close to him since the Supremacy.

 

Kylo peered into the door of the workshop and she prepared to sneak away up the staircase. But before he went in, he motioned for the stormtroopers to stay put.

 

Damn it, Rey thought.

 

She tried to figure out what to do. She was afraid any use of her force abilities would alert Ben to her presence, but there was no way she was getting up those stairs without the troopers seeing her.

 

Kylo went into the workshop and one of the stormtroopers cocked his head in her direction. “You stay here,” he said to the other trooper, “I’m going to search the premises.” He started walking towards the staircase and Rey realized she had to act.

 

Placing the saber in her belt, she took out her staff and darted out from under the stairs. The trooper reeled back in surprise and she whacked him over the head with the staff. Leaping onto the staircase she made a mad dash up to the top. She ran out of the building and into the street, smashing into several bystanders who yelled and cursed at her.

 

“Rey!” Kylo’s voice called from far behind her. “Rey!”

 

“Rey!”

 

She ducked down every alleyway she came across, not paying the slightest bit of attention to where she was going, finally stopping only because her lungs were on fire. She rested against a dumpster, heaving and trying to return her breathing to normal.

 

She staggered out of the alleyway on tired legs and was hit by a painful tightening in her mid-section. She was famished. She felt a tinge of nausea coming on from going since the day before without eating. In the past year she’d been having regular meals for the first time, and she’d lost her tolerance for going even a day without anything in her stomach.

 

She spotted a milk stand and, not seeing any other options for food, she went over to it. She ordered a blue milkshake-Luke had put her off the green stuff before she even had a chance to try it-but when her hands went to her bag, she remembered she didn’t have any credits. She was about to apologize and walk away but her stomach protested fiercely.

 

She wouldn’t have done it if she hadn’t felt like she was going to collapse but she grabbed the milkshake from the counter and began to walk away.

 

“Hey, you gotta pay for that,” the vendor said.

 

“I already paid.” She took a long gulp of the milkshake.

 

“No, you didn’t- “

 

Rey held the container to his face and looked into his eye’s. “ _I already paid.”_

He blinked. “You already paid.” He looked confusedly at the register and then shrugged. “Enjoy your drink. Have a nice day.”

 

She finished the milkshake and tossed the container into a nearby waste receptacle. Finally able to think clearly, she suddenly remembered Savi. She’d heard a crash, but she hadn’t seen his body when she’d run out of the building. She got the number for the local med center from a passing Togruta and sent them a communique telling them there was an injured man at Savi & Son Salvage.

 

Something else bothered her too. The holocrons. Ben could have found them in Savi’s Workshop and destroyed them.

 

Rey found a secluded place where she could gather her bearings and wait until the sun went down before she made her way back to Merchant’s Row. Once it started getting dark, she retraced her steps as best as she could until she finally found the sign for Savi & Son Salvage. She cautiously entered the building and went down the stairs to find the door still wide open and the workshop empty.

 

Walking into the backroom, she felt like kicking something in frustration. The box containing the holocrons was gone.

 

She pulled out her commlink. She was going to comm Rose and ask her to send someone to pick her up, but then she remembered the land speeder that they had left parked at the cinema two nights ago. She put the commlink back in her bag. The cinema wasn’t far from where she currently was, so she decided to go and see if it was still there so she could ride back to base herself.

 

Walking towards the cinema she was relieved to see the speeder was exactly where they’d left it. She was surprised it hadn’t been stolen or scavenged for parts. She hopped in the speeder and, in the dark of the night, she couldn’t help but notice a figure dressed in white. One who appeared to be looking in her direction.

 

She turned on the speeder’s headlights and her mouth flew open.

 

Illuminated by the bright headlights was the yellow, scaly Nendoan. He threw his head back and let out a long, powerful hiss. A woman in a white lab coat emerged from the shadows, stood by its side, and smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me at @hrenpire.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on twitter at @hrenpire


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